Black Bag’s Rotten Tomatoes score starts strong — can it end a perplexing Steven Soderbergh movie streak?

The first batch of reviews for Black Bag, the Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett spy thriller from Steven Soderbergh, have been shared and the movie has its initial Rotten Tomatoes score. As of the afternoon of March 7, Black Bag is “Fresh” with an impressive 90% score.

I’ll be seeing Black Bag early next week and will have my own review for the movie ahead of its release in theaters on March 14, but the early reaction from other critics would seem to indicate that the movie is going to earn a passing grade on RT. Will it be the same for general moviegoers though?

I’m curious because the Oscar-winning Soderbergh finds himself in a strangely fascinating streak right now, one where critics and audiences are on opposite ends of whether or not they like his movies, per their Rotten Tomatoes score.

Since 2020, Steven Soderbergh has directed five movies (not including Black Bag) — Presence, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Kimi, No Sudden Move and Let Them All Talk. In every instance, the Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and audiences did not line up.

Either the critics liked it to the point where it received a “Certified Fresh” rating, but less than 60% of general audiences gave the movie a positive score (the dividing line for the Popcornmeter fan score on Rotten Tomatoes). Or critics didn’t like the movie and the audiences did. Take a look for yourself:

• Presence: 88% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 52% from audiences
• Magic Mike’s Last Dance: 48% “Rotten” from critics, 74% from audiences
• Kimi: 92% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 59% from audiences
• No Sudden Move: 92% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 59% from audiences
• Let Them All Talk: 87% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 50% from audiences

The last time critics and audiences were of the same opinion on a Steven Soderbergh movie was The Laundromat, but in that case, neither group liked the movie (41% from critics, 40% from audiences). The last time that both critics' and audiences’ scores on Rotten Tomatoes aligned in liking a Steven Soderbergh movie was 2017’s Logan Lucky.

Now to be fair, critics have always tended to be more drawn to Soderbergh than audiences. But if you look at his resume prior to his short-lived retirement that began in 2013, he would often garner both critics' and audiences’ approval. Here are the movies that critics and audiences agreed on up to 2013:

• Sex, Lies & Videotape: 96% critics, 79% audiences
• King of the Hill: 91% critics, 84% audiences
• Schizpolis: 65% critics, 80% audiences
• Out of Sight: 94% critics, 74% audiences
• The Limey: 92% critics, 78% audiences
• Erin Brockovich: 85% critics, 81% audiences
• Traffic: 93% critics, 85% audiences
• Ocean’s Eleven: 83% critics, 80% audiences
• Ocean’s Thirteen: 70% critics, 75% audiences
• Che: Part One: 65% critics, 75% audiences
• Che: Part Two: 79% critics, 66% audiences
• Contagion: 85% critics, 63% audiences
• Magic Mike: 78% critics, 60% audiences
• Side Effects: 83% critics, 70% audiences
• Behind the Candelabra: 94% critics, 71% audiences

There were exceptions leading up to his retirement where the two groups were divided— Kafka, The Underneath, Gray’s Anatomy, Ocean’s Twelve, The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant, Haywire — but they were consecutive like Soderbergh's recent string of movies..

So how to account for this strange streak? There’s no easy answer. Audiences tastes have changed over the years; Soderbergh has gotten to a point where he doesn’t have to cater to a broad audience to make another movie. It could be one of those, it could be both, or it could be something else entirely.

Whatever the reason, I’m utterly fascinated by this divide and will be curious to see whether or not it continues with Black Bag.